Thursday, June 30, 2016

Last week, I had the honor of attending the NC Realtors Legislative days in Raleigh. This event is
three days of intense meetings regarding issues that effect private property rights, lending
practices, real estate practices and property management on a state level. The days consist of
meetings with other Realtors across the state, listening to updates on market viability,
challenges and opportunities.

This year has been a very positive year for Realtors statewide as
our efforts to preserve mortgage interest deductions and halt a tax on services have proven
successful. This success translates to a savings of millions of dollars, for North Carolina
homeowners.

There were also several new agenda items that were being addressed this year. One was the
“Orphaned Roads” bill. This bill would seek to classify and note roads that have not been taken
over by the state for a variety of reasons. These roads could be private or not up to DOT
standards. The bill would seek to establish bonding from the developers of future roads for
prevention of additional “orphaned roads”. This may not seem like a huge deal to most
property owners who live on state maintained roads, but many buyers and sellers realize very
quickly that if you do live on a non-DOT maintained road, that this can be a serious hindrance to
obtaining a new loan. Lenders require road maintenance agreements for private roads which
can be difficult to obtain if all property owners that front the road are not on board or are
unreachable. Heirs are sometimes hard to find and one person that does not agree to upkeep
can sometimes “kill” the entire deal. Some roads were actually built by developers with the
intention of turning them over to the DOT to maintain but homeowners find out years later
that the road was not built up to the DOT standards and the homeowners are now left with
potholes and no money to make repairs or bring up to today’s requirements. The effort to
identify and move proactively forward is one that has been needed for quite sometime and it is
good to see the NC Realtors taking the lead.

Our NC Realtors do a great job of staying on top of issues like the one above and so many more
that homeowners never see. This is invaluable, as most Realtors and homeowners alike need
the assurance that the association and it’s legislative team are watching over their interests and
that harmful bills, laws and regulations never see the light of day. Issues such as this are near
and dear to the heart of the Realtor community and we will continue to advocate for private
property rights and home ownership. If you have questions or would like to know more about
our efforts locally and statewide, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.